HBO presents unusual look at Marilyn

‘So, how did you get all these big stars to participate in this documentary?” I asked Liz Garbus, the director of “Love, Marilyn,” which appears on HBO June 17.

Garbus replied, “One word — Marilyn! Every person I approached wanted in, as soon as they heard that name.”

“Love, Marilyn,” takes an unusual approach to Monroe. It is not, for one thing, sensational. There are no death rumors, sex rumors or wild speculations. The documentary is based in part on the book “Fragments,” which contained many of Monroe’s poems, jottings, recipes, fears and hopes.

Actors such as Ben Foster, F. Murray Abraham, Oliver Platt, Paul Giamatti, Jeremy Piven and Stephen Lang recite the words of male writers, from Norman Mailer to Arthur Miller to Billy Wilder. But that’s only half — and indeed the less satisfying half of “Love, Marilyn.” (Some of the guys appear to be showboating, to say the least.)

It is the female stars Ms. Garbus lured that lift the film. Among them: Glenn Close, Ellen Burstyn, Lili Taylor, Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Lindsay Lohan and the magnificent Viola Davis. It is the women who recite Marilyn’s own words — alternately scattered, precise, desperate and hopeful. There’s not a false note anywhere. Every woman seems deeply affected. As Garbus said, “Marilyn speaks to every woman’s inner self — love, family, the desire for perfection, satisfaction in her work. And the fears that she cannot ‘have it all.’ ” Sarah Churchwell, who wrote the best book on Monroe, “The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe,” also makes an important contribution.

I met with Ms. Garbus and Amy Greene in midtown Manhattan last week. Amy is the former wife of the late photographer Milton Greene, with whom Marilyn formed her own production company. She did this after a stunning yearlong strike against her studio. Amy is much as she was more than 50 years ago — highly attractive, chic and acerbic. She was fond of Marilyn, but it is a fondness devoid of sentimentality. “She wanted to be a movie star, a sex symbol. She loved it. And she also wanted to be a great actress. She never saw why she couldn’t be both! And she sat in on every meeting. She knew what was going on, all the time.”

Amy also recounts the infamous night of the “flying skirt” for “The Seven Year Itch.” What appears innocent on screen — her dress blows only to mid-thigh — was “almost pornographic” when seen in person by thousands of onlookers, as her white pleated dress flew waist high.